Getting Back Into The Groove

 I felt out of place the other day in my own kitchen. I took a few months off away from baking and blogging and I almost forgot how to do it! I post pics to my Instagram (monica_h30) account daily, but it's been awhile since I've actually picked up my DSLR to photograph a recipe with the intent to blog. It was exciting and kind of nerve wracking at the same time. Even hubby was surprised at what I was doing. It turns out, blogging is kind of like riding a bike. Or I assume it is, it has been YEARS since I actually got on one :-) I pulled props from around my kitchen and out of my vintage glass stash and it all came together. 

These scones came about because I had really ripe berries and heavy cream to use up. I put my spin on it and did things a little differently than the original recipe and they turned out delicious. They're also quite patriotic looking with their red, white and blue-ness! Once cooked, the strawberry flavor intensifies and produces little pockets of  jam-like goodness. The scone itself is barely vanilla and tender, with crunchy sugared tops. Enjoy with a pat of butter or whipped cream (or "keem" as Hayden likes to call it) and more fresh fruit. These are perfect for long, lazy weekends. 

Happy Memorial Day! 

StrawBerry and Cream Scones
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Printer Friendly Version

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup chopped ripe strawberries
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream plus more for brushing the tops
• sanding sugar or turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Mix to combine.

Add the cubed, cold butter to the flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is pea sized and the mixture is crumbly. 

Gently stir in the strawberries and blueberries so that they are coated in the flour mixture. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla extract just until the mixture comes together. 

Place the dough onto a floured work surface and knead two to three times until a mass is formed, being careful not to over work the dough. Pat the dough into a flat disc about 10-inches wide and about 1-inch thick. 

Using a sharp knife, a bench scraper or a pizza wheel, divide the round into 8 equal triangles. Place the triangles onto the parchment lined baking sheet, about 1-2 inches apart. Brush the tops with additional heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until the scones are golden brown. Cool slightly before serving. 

Makes 8 scones. 

This little booger hovers over me while I'm taking photos in the kitchen. He could not wait til I was done so he could dig in. I set my camera down and he helped himself to several fingers full of "keem". Then he said "take picture" and stuck out his tongue. He was very proud of himself! How could I resist those eyes and that curly top?

Buttery Banana Bun Bonanza

It's very rare that I make, eat, photograph and blog about a recipe all in the same day. In fact I've only done it about 3 times since I've been blogging. But this morning I made Banana Buns that I saw on No Onions a couple months back. All I can say is YUM!

I didn't follow her recipe exactly, since it's more of a concept and you don't have to be so exact. 4 B's- Biscuits. Butter. Brown Sugar. Banana. I added a little cinnamon and chopped pecans then brushed the biscuits with a little more butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. I also used Grands Buttermilk biscuits rather than the smaller ones, but use what you like or have on hand. Oh and I sprayed the pan with non stick spray so they didn't stick.

The result was an upside down nutty, caramelly, banana bun perfect for lazy weekends and for company. The butter, brown sugar and cinnamon melted down and made a lovely syrup on the buns once turned out of the pan. The bananas got soft and the pecans were crunchy while the biscuit rose beautifully and was fluffy but sturdy enough to hold up all the goodies on top. They were like individual gooey banana breads. I loved these and look forward to making them again. Next time I might try them with blueberries or diced peaches.

Banana Pecan Butter Buns

makes 8 buns

• 8 (1 tube) Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
• 4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 8 equal pats
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or 16 pecan halves (2 per bun)
• 1-2 bananas cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 teaspoons packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted (optional)
• cinnamon sugar (optional)
• nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray your muffin tins and get ready to layer ingredients.

Place 1/2 Tablespoon or two of the 8 butter pats into each muffin cup. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the butter, then place 3-4 banana slices over the pecans. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon over bananas. Top with biscuit and press into muffin tin. Brush each biscuit with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 18 minutes or until golden and puffed. Allow to cool for a couple minutes before turning out onto a plate.

NOTE: The Grands biscuits are a little large but if you compress them with your hands around the edges of the biscuit as if you're shaping a patty it will fill the muffin tin perfectly. I like these as oppose to the smaller ones because they bake up taller and more muffin like.

One medium banana is enough for about 5 buns.

Biscuit #3

This is the only biscuit of the 3 that I made that used both shortening and butter. It was also the flakiest and had the most butter flavor. I have to admit though, I had to psyche myself to make these biscuits, because by this point I had already made 2 other batches and I was tired of standing on my feet, but I'm so glad I did.

This recipe requires a bit more effort than the other two biscuits, but it's, by no means, difficult. First you roll out the dough, fold it into thirds, and into thirds again. Then you re-roll it and stamp out your biscuits. The method is very much like the white chocolate blueberry scones I made a few months ago. Essentially, what you're doing is sandwiching the butter and shortening in between layers of dough, with every fold, thus creating a wonderfully flaky biscuit, with pull apart layers.

My husband was grateful I made these. They were his favorites by far, because they were so buttery. This recipe was right up there with the second batch I made, just different. These were so rich in butter so we just had them with strawberry preserves and saved the extra butter for the other biscuits. They were delish and I would highly recommend you make these or any of the other biscuits for yourself or for your Momma for Mother's Day. I made all of mine in one day and froze them. We've eaten a few of them and they have reheated in the toaster oven beautifully.

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits from Cook's Illustrated

-makes 12 biscuits -

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional flour for work surface
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, lightly floured and cut into 1/8-inch slices
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk, cold

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.

2. Add shortening to flour mixture; break up chunks with fingertips until only small, pea-sized pieces remain. Working in batches, drop butter slices into flour mixture and toss to coat; pick up each slice of butter and press between floured fingertips into flat, nickel-sized pieces. Repeat until all butter is incorporated; toss to combine. Freeze mixture (in bowl) until chilled, about 15 minutes.

3. Spray 24-inch-square area of work surface with nonstick cooking spray; spread spray evenly across surface with kitchen towel or paper towel. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of extra flour across sprayed area; gently spread flour across work surface with palm to form thin, even coating. Add all but 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to flour mixture; stir briskly with fork until ball forms and no dry bits of flour are visible, adding remaining buttermilk as needed (dough will be sticky and shaggy but should clear sides of bowl). With rubber spatula, transfer dough onto center of prepared work surface, dust surface lightly with flour, and, with floured hands, bring dough together into cohesive ball.

4. Pat dough into approximate 10-inch square; roll into 18 by 14-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick, dusting dough and rolling pin with flour as needed. Following illustrations below, using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, fold dough into thirds, brushing any excess flour from surface; lift short end of dough and fold in thirds again to form approximate 6 by 4-inch rectangle. Rotate dough 90 degrees, dusting work surface underneath with flour; roll and fold dough again, dusting with flour as needed.

5. Roll dough into 10-inch square about 1/2 inch thick; flip dough and cut nine 3-inch rounds with floured biscuit cutter, dipping cutter back into flour after each cut. Carefully invert and transfer rounds to ungreased baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart. Gather dough scraps into ball; roll and fold once or twice until scraps form smooth dough. Roll dough into 1/2-inch-thick round; cut three more 3-inch rounds and transfer to baking sheet. Discard excess dough.

6. Brush biscuit tops with melted butter. Bake, without opening oven door, until tops are golden brown and crisp, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

NOTE: There one cool trick I learned from this recipe. In step 3 it says to spray your work surface with non-stick cooking spray, then to wipe and spread it thinly with a paper towel. THEN you dust your work area with flour. This keeps the surface you're working on floured. You know sometimes when you're rolling out dough and it starts to stick underneath even though you've floured? Well this prevents that. So cool! I'll definitely use that trick again.

Biscuit #1- Best Drop Biscuits

Biscuit #2- Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

Biscuit #1 & Awards

Maria, Erin, Hennifer, Lindsey and Donna all recommended this biscuit. Every comment I received about this biscuit, further convinced me to make them. Thanks ladies!

I have to say of the 3 different biscuits that I made (which I'll post later in the week) these were by far the easiest. They were extremely simple and came together in a matter of minutes. Measure, mix, scoop, bake, cool, eat. Simple and delicious.

I think of the 3 biscuits, these were my least favorite. That does not mean they weren't good, because they were, but in order of preference these were last. Please don't let that talk you out of making them, I just happened to prefer the texture of the other biscuits I made. That being said, they also required more effort and time.

These biscuits were definitely fluffy, crumbly and fall apart tender. I slathered mine fresh from the oven with butter and plum jam. I think honey would have been better because you could let it drizzle over the biscuit rather than trying to spread anything on them. Because of their soft interior, these don't hold up well to biscuit sandwiches, instead they're great for sopping up gravy.

Best Drop Biscuits from Cook's Illustrated

- makes 12 biscuits -

• 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

NOTE: My only recommendation when baking these biscuits is to bake them on a light colored baking sheet. Mine got a little darker than I would have liked on the bottom and I attribute that to the color of the pan since darker pans cook faster/hotter than lighter ones.

Want a bite?

Alright, while you enjoy your biscuit I'll tell you a few things about myself. Kathy and Delectable Dining both passed this Premio Blog Award on to me. When I receive an award, I like to what it's for. I traced it all the way back to a few Spanish blogs then got lost along the way. I don't know what this award is truly for, but I absolutely appreciate it. Though I don't know it's origination, I think it's meant to honor and highlight "prize" blogs. So thank you.

With the acceptance of this award, I'm also supposed to tell you 7 things about myself that you may not know.

1. When I buy greeting cards at the supermarket or at Hallmark, I ALWAYS switch the envelopes. I never think the envelopes the manufactures pick match worth a damn. So if you should ever get a card from me, know the envelope was hand selected just for you :-)

2. I have a fascination for elephants and penguins. I collect them both. I love penguins because they are incredibly loyal to each other and to their offspring. Family is important to them and it's their everything. Elephants because they're highly intelligent, they're strong and they're just amazing creatures.

3. My husband is my high school sweetheart. And I'm still madly in love with him.

4. I can taste raw onions in anything. You can't hide them from me, no matter how small they are- gag!

5. When I was little I wanted to be a prosecuting lawyer and I wanted to drive a white convertible Mercedes Benz. Boy, things have changed.

6. One of the first things I ever baked homemade were peanut butter cookies. I was probably 10 years old and got the recipe off the half gallon container of government peanut butter. They were so damn good- just like the ones I remember getting in elementary school.

7. I love crafting- I like to paint, knit, assemble, create. I'm pretty modest about most things, but I do believe I am very creative. If it can be purchased, I want to make it. I just painted a butterfly house over the weekend.

A lot of you have already been tagged for this award, so choose these bloggers to pass it along to:

Sophie, Debby, Anna, Hennifer, Kristen, Rachel, and Kerstin

This award was passed on from Lissaloo. It's to call attention to passionate bloggers. I'm also supposed to tell you 5 things I'm passionate about. Thank you Lissaloo so much!

1. My husband and our marriage is my passion. It has to be. I think that loyalty and honestly are extremely important and our union together starts with that. I (we both) work really hard at maintaining our love and keeping it fresh.

2. My boys- They may not be with me, but that doesn't mean that I don't think about them every single day. It's not the natural order for most mothers, but I go to the cemetery often to clean their headstones and to take them toys or fresh flowers. I try to honor them everyday in the best way possible. I am proud to be their mother.

3. My family is also really important to me. Like most families, we get on each other's nerves and we have our own fair share of quirks, but I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. It's weird when you think about extended families, but they're the ones that make up the holidays, birthdays, backyard bbq's-- all our memories. I just love them.

4. Photography- I usually always have my camera within arms reach. I don't just photograph food. I also photograph my husband, my pets, nature, sunsets, babies. I just love it. I've been known to fill up a memory stick, upload the pictures and go back outside. It's calming for me.

5. Baking. While I like cooking and coming up with new recipes, baking is my passion. I like to try new things and bake for almost every event. Why not? You don't need a special occasion to have cake. On my days off, you can usually find me in the kitchen whipping up something yummy, planning my baking days or surfing blogs to get more ideas.

I'm not going to tag anyone in particular for this award. I think you're all wonderful and are passionate about what you do. Proof is in your blogs and your cooking/baking. Thank you all for the daily inspiration.

Buttermilk Biscuits and A Giveaway!

Thank you for all the biscuit recipe suggestions. I spent the day making biscuits. I decided to go with a "plain" biscuit instead of something more savory. Michelle submitted a recipe for Cheesy Garlic Biscuits. I did not make them today, but I have made them before and they are delicious.

About 4 others recommended I try Cook's Illustrated Drop Biscuits. Kristen posted her Baking Powder biscuits in the comment section, but it was very similar to CI's recipe with the exception of butter/margarine and milk/buttermilk.

Also, Maria said she had a few really good ones so I headed to her blog to check them out. She wasn't kidding. Through her blog I found a couple others. So, I decided to make a drop biscuit, a fluffy buttermilk and a flaky buttermilk biscuit. I'll tempt you with a picture of my baked goods, but I'll post the recipes later.

And as promised I have a giveaway for you! This may be my first giveaway on this blog, I'm not sure because I've given things away to bloggers in the past and on my other blog....hmmm. Anyway, this is what I have for you:

Baking Liners!!!

In order to enter just leave me a comment on this post and 1). Tell me what you're making for Mother's Day and 2). Tell me what you plan on baking in these baking liners. You have until Sunday, April 26th at midnight Central Time to enter.

There will be 2 winners- your name will be chosen out of a hat by my hubby. Both people will get all 5 designs of baking cups- (50 of each design, a total of 250 liners). I'll reveal the winners on Monday. Good luck!

**Giveaway open to US residents only**

-Giveaway Closed-

A Biscuit. A Basket.

I need help with a recipe for Mother's Day brunch. You game?

I need a REALLY GOOD recipe for BISCUITS. They can be fluffy, flaky, sweet, savory, buttermilk, yeast, whatever. They just have to be good with salted butter and/or jam and be borderline extraordinary :-) I'm not asking for too much am I?

I have a recipe for a basic buttermilk biscuits and it's good, but I want the best recipe you have in your little treasure chest. Please only submit recipes that are tried and true.

Can you help me out? Please! Lurkers, it's time for you to come out of the closet.

I'll reward you with a giveaway later in the week :-)

Butter Makes Everything Better

I have been making this for years! The minute I saw Paula make this on her show, I jotted down the recipe on scratch paper and made it. I've made this at home on lazy weekends, and while on vacation. It's so quick and easy and everyone loves it.

For some reason, I don't remember there being rolled oats in this recipe. I have never made this coffee cake with oatmeal and it's been perfectly delicious. I make everything exactly according to the recipe, just minus the oats and I also don't put sugar on the blueberries. So basically, I don't follow this recipe at all, and I have been making what I *thought* was her recipe- whatever! I've made it with brown sugar and granulated sugar and both are really good. Here is Paula's version. My version is below.

Blueberry Coffee Cake adapted from Paula Deen

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1- 12 ounce can Grand's buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup packed light brown or granulated sugar
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease a 9-inch square baking dish and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine brown or granulated sugar and cinnamon and mix well with a fork. Separate biscuit dough into 10 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into quarters, and dip each piece in melted butter and coat with cinnamon sugar mixture. Arrange in a single layer in baking dish.

Pour blueberries over biscuits. Drizzle melted butter on top of blueberries and biscuits. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake is golden brown and center is done. Cool slightly before serving.

Comfort In A Biscuit

The weather has turned cool and that makes me crave comfort food. Chicken n' Dumplins, Chili and lightly sweetened cornbread, chunky beef stew, the list goes on. But the other night I was craving (and slightly drooling over) chicken and biscuits.

I make a simple chicken pot pie and I used the same filling but served it over freshly-baked-hot-from-the-oven biscuits. They were flaky, and tender, mildly salty from the salted butter I put on top before they went in the oven, and YUM!

We had them for dinner with the chicken/veggie mixture, for breakfast with plum jam and salted butter, and I also made breakfast biscuits with scrambled eggs, cheese, and bacon. These biscuits were simple, basic (as the recipe title implies) and good.

Basic Buttermilk Biscuits from Paula Deen via Food Network

• 1 package yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup solid shortening
• 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Dissolve yeast in warm water; set aside.

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening. Add yeast and buttermilk and mix well.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE: The recipe doesn't say it needs kneading, but I found the dough a little sticky when I turned it out onto the counter. I kneaded about 1/2 a cup extra flour into the dough, just until it was no longer sticky. Don't over-knead or your biscuits will be tough. If your dough isn't sticky after adding all the ingredients together, don't knead it. It may be because it was humid here???

I made jumbo biscuits (about 3 inches wide) so they took about 18 minutes to turn golden. I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I used a flower shaped cookie cutter. You could also use a a glass or a cleaned out tin can.

I made 18 jumbo biscuits instead of 36 smaller biscuits. I kept them in an airtight container and reheated them in the toaster oven for a few minutes til warm. They stayed fresh for a few days, but they can be frozen and kept longer.

The trick to get your biscuits to rise properly is to not twist the cutter in the dough. Press the cutter down into the dough, and lift straight up, don't be tempted to twist.